This four-year-old Chinese brand is beating GoPro in some reviews
- Insta360 has received plaudits for its innovative software features and easy-to-use app
- Founder says successful consumer electronics companies need a strong marketing team and clear product definition
Looking for a 360-degree camera to fully capture the action on your next ski-trip? If you search on Google for a recommendation, chances are one particular device will keep cropping up on “Best of” lists – the Insta360 One X.
Techradar and Forbes lists the Insta360 One X as its top choice, and prior to the device’s release, tech review site Wirecutter said that the Insta360 One X had higher specifications on paper than its top pick from Japan’s Ricoh.
But what few may realise is that Insta360, which produces 360-degree cameras that beat GoPro devices, is a 4-year old Shenzhen based-company, helmed by 28-year old Liu Jingkang.
Liu, a native of Guangdong province, founded a live-streaming start-up in his final year at Nanjing University in early 2014 but decided to pivot when he watched and became fascinated by a 360-degree video.
At the time, companies who wanted to film high-definition video had to organise a rig of multiple cameras in a sphere, and then stitch the resultant images together to get the 360-degree effect.
“We wanted to create a camera that could take a 360-video with just one press of a button,” said Liu in an interview on the sidelines of the CES trade show in Las Vegas last week.